Pizza Rustica

Pizza rustica looks nothing like the Neopolitan-style pizzas we know so well in this country. That's because pizza in Italian means pie and not all Italian pies are made with a bread dough. Pizza rusticas tend to be double-crusted affairs enclosing a mixture of cheese and nuggets of various cured meats and sausages. With its rich filling, pizza rustica is often served at Easter as a way to celebrate after the lean eating during Lent. In this version, author Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez makes an open-faced pizza rustica.

Preparation

Make the dough:
Blend together flour, butter, salt, and pepper in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful of dough: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.

Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather all dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a 5-inch disk. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Make tart:
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Fit dough into tart pan and trim excess, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhang inward and press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Prick dough in pan all over with a fork. Chill pan until dough is firm, about 15 to 30 minutes.

Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until edges are pale golden, 18 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake until shell is golden all over, about 10 to 15 minutes more. Cool completely in pan, about 20 minutes.

Bake tart until filling is set and pale golden, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool tart in pan on a rack, about 15 minutes, then carefully remove sides of pans and slide the tart off bottom. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cooks' notes:

Pastry dough can be chilled up to 2 days or frozen, wrapped well, up to 3 months.

Tart shell can be baked 2 days ahead and kept, wrapped in plastic, at room temperature.

my notes

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